The Legends of Jack Myrmidon: The Pool of Memories
by Dorian Grey II
Summary: Jack Myrmidon has always been an angry violent teenager. But what happens when he is tragically thrown into a world of unreal possibilities. He'll have to go to hell, back, and beyond to save something he never knew. R&R. All criticism welcome.let me know
1. I Lose Everything to an Italian Guy

I Lose Everything to an

Italian Guy

Sitting in the principle's office is never fun especially when it's for fighting. Yet here I was again twirling my thumbs and waiting for my uncle to show up. To be honest, it's really not my fault. The kid really had it coming, because once you get me started I'm a slave to my rage. Plus, he should of guessed from my nickname "War Machine" how the fight was going to turn out. But still I had managed yet again to put another kid in the hospital. These were the reasons I was going to use when I was called into the principle's office, which happened a few seconds later.

"Jack Myrmidon!" Principle Donald called. I trudged into his office to beg and plead once again, not to be expelled. When I walked in my Uncle Greg was sitting in a chair to the left of the office. He didn't look angry just tired. Most likely tired of all my getting into trouble and most of all tired of setting a bad example for my little brother Jason. When I sat down, P- Donny ( long hilarious story that involves a rapping principle) as the students called him began his speech on how disappointed he was in me and how I couldn't seem to control my temper and just blah blah blah. I couldn't care less what he had to say; he'd probably just give me another two weeks out of school suspension. It was my uncle's words that really had me worried, though I'm pretty sure I already knew what he had to say.

He took me to the car to wait on Jason. School hadn't ended yet. "What happened?" he asked quietly. He wouldn't look at me. So I re accounted the story.

_Flashback- I walked into J. Edgar Hoover High School determined to make __it a good day and I did pretty good for my first five classes. But then this idiot football player named Samuel Red started harassing my little brother while we were changing classes. So naturally , I walked over to him to tell him to lay off or else. Then I smelled his breath and weird enough he was drunk at the age of 14, and everything was a downward spiral from there. He threatened me to stay out of it, but I didn't listen because the next words out of his mouth hammered the nail permanently into his coffin. These were his exact words. "...stay out of it before you end up like your whore of a mother, dead and..." He never finished that sentence because in the next second I had him on the ground with his right arm behind his back, smashing his ugly face into ground before Jason pulled me off of him._

By the time I finished my story, the final bell had rang. Uncle Greg was silent for a few moments before speaking.

" You..."

"Yeah, Yeah I know. I should have handled it better and controlled my anger and..."

" Let me finish. You did the right thing. I would have done the same thing. Hell I feel like beating up the punk right now for what he said about my kid sister. But you should have at least waited till after school, that way there would be less consequences." I wasn't surprised, when it came to my mom Uncle Greg knew no boundaries if someone insulted her.

Finally, Jason showed up. He looked tired and frustrated, and of course he had to be the only one to express chagrin about what happened.

"Well, it's official. What school do think we'll be going to now Uncle Greg?" he asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa I hope you don't think this is my fault." I complained.

" Well, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Mother Theresa, although she does have a temper." He mused sarcastically.

"Funny." I replied. "But honestly-"

He cut me off. "I told you to let me get the next one, Jack it isn't fair. When do I get a cool nickname slash rep for being a total bad ass?" That's when I started laughing. "For a second there, I thought you were mad at me for getting into another fight."

"Where'd you get that insane idea? I just wish you would've let me get a few hits in."

"Then why did you pull me off of him?"

"So I could get a shot, smarty."

I decided to let it go because we were home. Turns out I was worried for nothing. I guess I should have known; all three of us, Jason, my Uncle Greg, and I, are all very violent people. No we don't beat up on each other when we get angry but... never mind that's exactly what we do.

Jason was the one to break the silence we got out of the car. "You guys I'm gonna... I'm gonna mull things over a bit here in the car. Cool ?" We agreed and went inside out three bedroom apartment. But the second Uncle Greg walked in he was flung against the wall by an unseen force stuck there groaning

I rushed in to find a tall, pale, dark haired man in what was obviously an Italian suit holding his hand up towards my uncle. Then he held out his hand and all of the shadows in the room gathered around it and formed a pitch black sword in his hand. He then proceeded to slam the sword into my uncle's chest before I could react.

"NOOOOOO!" I screamed and I charged him. I got a clear shot at his face, but I instantly regretted it because my entire arm exploded with pain and I was thrown back against the wall by the same unseen force. He scowled at me.

" Just for that you, feccia della terra, I will make you suffer before I tear this world apart." He really was Italian. But that didn't matter because in the next second he held out his hand again. My vision was gone, so all that I heard was a chilling laugh and all I felt was an immense heat before I lost consciousness.


	2. I Become the New Superman

I Become the

New Superman

_2 Months Later_

When I woke up everything was hazy, and I felt weak. I tried to sit up, but I found that that option was out of the question due to my aching bones. That's when I felt a glass pressed to my lips. I drank it only to find that it tasted exactly like... Gummi Bears?

"What does it taste like?" came a voice from the corner. I looked toward where the voice came from, and sitting in an old wooden rocking chair was a middle aged woman with medium length brown hair. She was wearing an orange shirt that said _Camp Half-Blood _ on the front. She looked friendly.

"Like the shirt? It's kind of a hot commodity around here."Then it all came flooding back. "Where am I? Where's Jason? Is my Uncle Greg okay?" I panicked. I looked around and found I was in a room with a huge window on the right. I jumped out of bed and tried to stand up which was my first mistake. I immediately collapsed to the floor.

"Take it easy, you've been out of it for awhile." I was about to start asking questions again, but she cut me off, "I'll answer all your questions in a few minutes, but you have to calm down and concentrate on getting your strength back. Cool?" I agreed. " Good now follow me." I did and she took me down the stairs and out the front door, and what I saw was utterly mind blowing. Everywhere I looked something was going on.

"Alright let the tour begin, over there," she said pointing to the immediate left of the big house. "are the strawberry fields. It's partly where we get our funds from. We sell them to whoever wants them, and we use the cash for mostly quest funds, but also recently we use it as a sort of bonus to the campers who reach the age of 21 and decide to live permanently in the mortal world. And beyond that are the stables where we keep the pegasi."

"Pega- what?" I asked.

"Pegasi are a breed of flying horses that are sometimes-" she stopped. With a questioning look, "How much do you know about Greek Mythology?" I told her not much. "I guess we'll have to start your Ancient Greek lessons as soon as possible."

For the next hour and a half, Councilor LaRue told me everything about camp and the gods or at least as much as you could tell a grief-stricken, ADHD, dyslexic teenager in an hour and a half. And apparently ADHD and Dyslexia were side-effects of being a half blood. Fat lot of good it's done me the past. Then she took me to the cabins, so I could find where I'd be temporarily staying until I was claimed as a son of my godly parent.

There were 12 cabins in a U shape and about 15 cabins behind that. The twelve cabins up front were for the 12 on the Olympian Council. The Fifteen in the back were for the kids of minor gods. But as interesting as this all was, all that I could think about was my brother Jason and Uncle Greg. I didn't want to believe it but he might be... be.

"Jack, can you hear me?" I realized that we had stopped.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I just have a lot on my mind at the moment."

"That's understandable but it's time for you to take the test."

"Whoa, hey, nobody said anything about a test. Besides, I don't really test well."

"That's okay, our test is more of a personality thing and it's really unconventional. So just be your self, do what comes naturally, and you should be fine. Cool?" I agreed. Just then there was a flash of red light, and a man in heavy biker gear showed up wearing dark sunglasses like the Terminator.

"Hey dad," said Councilor LaRue

"Who's this?" Then he looked at me, and held out his hand.

" 'Sup kid. I am Ares, the god of war." I shook his hand

Councilor LaRue butted in, "So dad," she said looking agitated, "where's Chris?"

"Oh right, well he um..." He started looking around.

"Dad!" She screamed, "where's Chris?"

"I've still got him. Why, what do you need him for?"

" Oh I don't know dad," she mused sarcastically, "Maybe because I would like to get married _Before _I die."

"Fine, whatever," he mumbled, "just trying to make sure he's good enough."

"That's not your job, it's mine. Besides, what happened to not interfering with mortal affairs?" Ares was silent. "That's what I thought. Now bring him back, or I'll get Percy and have him deal with you."

"I am not scared of that punk, but I'll bring him back any way."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." In another flash of light, a Latino guy appeared slashing a sword around violently. When he realized where he was, he dropped his sword, ran over to Councilor LaRue, and kissed her fiercely. It was kind of awkward for everybody within a few feet of the incident. When they were done, Councilor LaRue looked back over to her dad.

"Dad can you take Jack to the arena for his test? Can you do that without getting into a fight?" That made me nervous.

" Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're not my mother." he dismissed.

"Thank the gods for that," she said.

"Um Councilor LaRue, are you sure that's the best idea?" I asked tentatively

"Call me Clarisse," she said, " and yes. Ares is a big softie at heart."

"Am not." Ares interjected. Clarisse said good bye and walked away. "Right this way kid. Don't mind that, we do that arguing thing all the time."

" No kidding," I chuckled, " I believe you. Although, it makes sense that you do, on the account that you're pretty good at it." Ares laughed.

" I guess there is that. So what's your last name?"

" Myrmidon." I answered. He paused for a second before continuing to the arena. He was silent for the rest of the walk. When we got to the area he handed me a sword.

" Here you go kid, use it well." Then he was gone. I looked up in time to catch a pretty girl with gray eyes looking at me as she walked by.

"Nice sword." she said smiling.

"Thanks," I responded, "it's a 32 inch Spartan infantry sword with a celestial bronze blade and hilt wrapped in black leather." she stopped

"How did you know that? Have you been claimed?"

"No and I don't know," I told her truthfully. They called my name again. "Look I gotta go, see you around."

"You too," she said smiling again. "Hey," I stopped again, "Come find me when you get claimed. I could show you around... if you want to that is."we both blushed.

" Uhh, sure. What's your name,"

" I'm Carla Blake, daughter of Athena." she turned and left and I went back to examining my sword.

On the very bottom, there was a turning mechanism. When I looked more closely, I saw that the sword had several forms or whatever. As I walked into the arena, I was looking at the different choices. Sword, Spear, Dagger, and... one of those push up lead pencils? Then I notice the name written in Ancient Greek. _Wrath_. Seemed appropriate since all I'd use it for would be killing, and apparently... writing.

When I finally stopped messing around with my sword, I looked up to see the arena alive with activity. Then a girl with dark brown hair and reddish-brown eyes ran up to me.

"Are you Jack Myrmidon?" she asked out of breath. I said yes. " Good, cause you're up next."

"Wait, what? Up next for what?" she didn't answer, but instead strapped some armor on me and gave me a helmet, and pushed me to the center of the arena. "Oh good you've already got a sword. Okay, here's the deal this is a fight to determine who your godly parent is. Any abilities that you might have will come out and you'll probably be claimed after that. Also a bit of advice, try not to get hurt to badly. You're kinda cute." she stated offhandedly. That caught me off guard. She thinks I'm cute.

All of a sudden I got a splitting headache. My vision turned red and I began to see images. I saw me fighting this guy with a spear and I was... losing. He kicked me in my chest and I flew back about two feet. Next, he slowly walked over to me and pointed his spear at my throat, poised to kill, and just as suddenly as it came, the vision stopped. When the headache went away, my eyesight was back to normal. My forehead and palms were sweaty, I shakily put on my helmet. A perfect fit. Then my name was called.

"Jack Myrmidon." said a voice up in the stands. There was an olive toned guy about 24, with a pen and a clipboard. "Just for the record state your name, age, height, and hometown."

"J-Jack Myrmidon," I stammered, " I'm 14 years old, I'm about 5'11 and I'm from Galveston, Texas."

"Guess that explains the accent," he commented referring to my deep southern accent, "Okay then, carry on."

Then the doors opened and a guy about 6'7 walked through wearing heavy Greek armor. Then it dawned on me that this was the same guy from my vision. And I knew exactly what happens next. Me getting my butt handed to me on a silver platter. I held my sword up and prepared for the worst. Then as he charged me spear tip first, something changed. I saw it coming, and on reflex I deflected it off the flat of my blade and slammed my elbow into his helmet, catching him by surprise. He got back up surprisingly fast, and started spinning his spear expertly. He feigned a swipe at my head and followed up with an upper cut. I blocked and countered, cutting his arm. This continued for 2 more minutes, before I got the upper hand with an unexpected sweep to the legs, while simultaneously knocking his spear away. It ended with my sword at his throat.

"Whoa." the guy in the stands was stunned, and so was I. "Kid where did you learn to fight like that." before I could answer, the guy was distracted by something above my head. I looked up to see a fading 3d holographic image, a boar's head mounted on a spear. Two seconds later it was gone.

"My father?" I asked still not getting what the big deal was.

"Your father," the guy answered, "is Ares the god of war, but that doesn't explain how you knew how to fight like that. It looked like you knew what moves he was going to make and you totally thrashed him. It was awesome!" he exclaimed.

"How old are you exactly?" I was seriously questioning this guy's maturity levels.

" Oh right. I'm Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades and I'm one of the camp councilors. Nice to meet you." He shook my hand. "So, who taught you how to fight?"

"Nobody. I-I've never fought with a weapon or anything like that in my life."

" Well, I can tell you one thing, kid. You're a natural, you're like freaking... Superman!"

"Yeah," I agreed half-heartedly, "Superman."


	3. My Brother and I Start a Tiny Riot

My Brother and I Start

a Tiny Little Late Night Riot

After my test I got my things and moved into the Ares cabin. When I opened the door, my ears were immediately bombarded with blaring hard core rock music. I had to cover my ears just to keep my head from exploding. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse the door busted open knocking me onto the floor. I got back up and in walked a guy seemingly in his late teens. He had short stocky red hair like a soldier, and he towered over me by a good foot and a half.

"Hey, I'm Jack," for some reason things felt awkward, "I'm the new Ares kid."

"They told me you were coming.'Sup, I'm Ryan Red the head Ares councilor, but everyone around here just calls me Red." he said shaking my hand.

"That name sounds familiar," could they be related, "Do you know Samuel Red?" he nodded.

"Yeah, he's my cousin. When I go down south to visit, I hang out with him. We have fun. You know cousin stuff. Do you know him?"

"Not really," I shrugged, "I got into a fight with him before I came here."

"Really?" he asked intrigued, "what for?"

"He was picking on my kid brother so I had to set straight." he nodded again.

"Can't say I blame you. Kid hasn't been the same since his step father introduced him to alcohol. Sammy's got a lot of problems, go easy next time you see him." At that moment the dinner bell sounded and Red told everyone to move out. Then he caught up with me, and sat down

"By the way, I forgot to ask," he said when they brought out the BBQ. " Who's your brother? Oh just say what kind of drink you want and it'll appear. Follow me to the fire." It turns out we have to sacrifice a portion of our food to the gods out of respect. " So, who's your brother?"

"His name is Jason and I haven't seen him since I woke up." Red's face was scrunched up in concentration, and was silent for about 30 seconds before he spoke again.

"What's your last name?"

"Myrmidon." His face lit up with surprise

"Whoa, you're Jason's older brother?" I nodded. "I guess that kind of talent runs in the family." now it was my turn to be confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well two months ago, a couple of Hermes' kids were patrolling Half- Blood Hill, when out of nowhere this twelve year old kid shows up carrying another guy on his shoulder. You. And he starts screaming for somebody to help him. We get them inside and take the unconscious, injured guy to the infirmary. For the first few days, we let him stay with you, but then we needed him to be claimed so we took him to the arena to be tested. And he just thrashes the guy we sent to fight him, an Athena camper who's been here for three years, and he gets claimed by Ares." This caught me by surprise. Jason was here at camp somewhere.

"Wait, where is he then?" I asked

"I'm getting to that. So, anyway he gets claimed by Ares and everyone congratulated him. But he just went back to the infirmary for the next week, before he started getting involved in camp activities, and two days ago he got a quest and he left yesterday. At first he didn't want to go, because he wanted to be here when you woke up, but Chiron, the centaur, convinced him."

"Do you know when he'll be back?

"No, but he should be on his way back now. From what I've heard, the quest isn't hard." Then Chiron called the room to silence.

"Before we go to the sing-along, I have a few announcements. First, congratulations to all the new campers who got claimed today." The room erupted in applause and cheers. " Next, I am pleased to inform all of you that the yearly annual Greek and Roman games will start next month. Let me finish, Let me finish," he said because the room had once again erupted into applause and cheers along with a few "get some"s and "hell yeahs". "Currently, the Romans hold the trophy," there were instant and ear deafening boos all around, "So, in order to make sure we have the best competitors this year we will be having preliminary qualifying events starting tomorrow. Good luck." and with that we were dismissed to the sing-along. But I stopped when I saw three people walking towards us as we were heading to the amphitheater. One was a girl with reddish brown hair and light brown eyes, and another on the left was a boy with grayish black hair and dark eyes. I didn't care about either one of them, because walking up the middle with a few scrapes and bruises my brother. Jason.

We decided to sneak away into the arena to catch up. Jason re accounted the story on how we ended up at camp again. Then I asked the burning questioning that had troubled me since the second I got here.

"So... about Uncle Greg. Is... Is he you know?" I couldn't even bring myself to say the word. I looked back at Jason, but he wouldn't look me in the eye. And I knew the truth. "H-How did it happen. I cant remember anything from after I walked in the house." he sighed heavily.

"After you walked in the door I sat there for a few minutes thinking about all of the times with mom, but then I heard you scream and I got out of the car to see what was going on, but before I could to the door the apartment exploded with you and Uncle Greg still inside. Then you flew through the window, still slightly on fire. I put out the flames, but you were still unconscious and Uncle Greg... he..." Jason started breaking down, "he never came out. I don't any mortal who could survive that. Do you think he might still be alive?"

Jason almost never cries, and never cry. So that means that this is the crucial point. It was time to perform my duties as the older brother. I didn't want to get his hopes, but at the same time I didn't want to completely destroy them either so I decided to use an old espionage trick. Distraction method. I could feel an evil grin spread across my face.

"So I hear you totally thrashed the warrior sent to fight you for your test." I said. He looked up and smiled and I knew my efforts had succeeded.

" Yeah, I did. It was almost too easy. What about you?" I told him everything that happened to me since I woke up. He seemed a bit jealous when I got to the part about the sword. "He GAVE you a freaking magical sword!" Okay so maybe more than a bit. He calmed down when I told him it was my birthright as the first born son. His eyes bulged when I told him about the vision.

"No way. That happened to you too?"

"Yeah. You can do it too or whatever it is."

"Yeah, right before I was about to fight him I get this splitting headache, and the next thing I knew I was watching the fight in full color on paper view. And afterwards I knew all the guy's moves and I just destroyed him." he finished. Or so I thought. "How long did your fight last?"

"What?"

"How long did your fight last?" He repeated.

"A little under three minutes. Why?"

"Oh. Well it's just that mine lasted a solid 2 minutes. So I was thinking that maybe..." he trailed off.

"You're seriously implying that you're...better than me are you?"

"Well if the shoe fits." was all he said.

"What do you say to finding out for sure right here. Right now." I suggested.

"Sometimes it's like you can read my mind." he answered grinning mischievously. He ran over to the sword rack and grabbed a 3 footer, and I pulled out _Wrath_ and changed it to sword form.

"Rules?" I asked.

"There are none except for no fatal blows. We can always heal minor scrapes and bruises later. Ready?" he asked.

"Ding. Ding." I replied. And then the headache struck. I knew Jason was having one right now also. It lasted longer than I thought it would. Probably because the future said this match would end in a draw.

" Not if I can help it." I whispered.

I charged toward Jason at full speed and front flipped over his blade as he swung it hard toward the midsection of my body. My momentum carried me forward and I tucked my shoulder and rolled on the ground to avoid damage. I instinctively brought _Wrath_ up to block a downward strike toward my head. I countered with a sweep, but he jumped to dodge it. It continued like that for five solid minutes. Slash. Parry. Block. Duck. Elbow. Kick. Parry. Repeat. Neither one of us gained the upper hand. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to change any time soon, when I got my second headache of the night. We were going to have serious company in about 60 seconds.

"Jason, stop," he stopped when he saw I was serious.

"What's up?"

"Somebody must've spread the word that the Myrmidon brothers were sparring, because loads of people are about to see just how good we are."

"What do you mean. Are they going to try jump us?" Just then an arrow appeared out of nowhere, but I deflected it off my blade. "Does that answer your question?" I asked. Then dozens of people in armor stormed in looking for a fight.

"You take half and I'll take half. Understood?" I nodded. "Good, time to live up to your name War Machine."

30 minutes later, It was a massacre. There were campers on the ground, groaning in pain. There were campers in the stands sitting out, and the rest who had decided to test the skills of the Myrmidon brothers, were still in the middle of the arena fighting. But there were only a handful of campers left still fighting. I was in the middle of flipping a guy over my shoulder, when a conch horn sounded. I dropped him.

"I suppose you all had fun." said a guy at the entrance. He had jet black hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket, with a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and blue jeans. He walked up to Jason and I.

"You guys did this?" he asked. We nodded. "Nice work, although I would have preferred you to do it when it was allowed." He stuck out his hand to shake.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson. Head Councilor of camp half blood."


	4. I Befriend a Legend

I Befriend a Legend

The rest of the week was uneventful. After meeting the head councilor in the most unconventional way possible, we got cleaned up and helped all the wounded to the infirmary. Then we went to bed where I had my first nightmare since arriving at camp. All day everyone had told me how much demigod dreams suck, but I didn't believe that they were any worse than regular dreams. Of course I was wrong. My dream started out in a meadow, and in the meadow was a huge pool. Then I noticed the beautiful woman sitting at the edge of the pool staring down into the pool while combing her hair. It was a light golden brown just like mine, but then the sky darkened and a man appeared, molding himself out of shadows. With a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I realized this was the same Italian guy that killed my uncle. The same guy that had ruined my life. Then the woman looked up in fear, apparently knowing what was about to happened.

"I will not help you and you will fail, Soulless One." she rasped. The man had grasped her roughly around her neck, choking her.

"Well, I guess we'll have to change that, won't we?" His smile was sinister. "Besides, making you cooperate is so much more...FUN, than offering your help willingly." The shadows began to gather around him again. Before she was gone she uttered three words that chilled my bones.

"Save me, Jack."

I awoke in a cold sweat and checked the clock on the wall. It was 4:30 a.m. I decided to sneak out rather than stay in bed and think about the mind numbing dream I just had. I went to the arena to practice with _Wrath. _But when I got there I realized that I wasn't the only one with that idea, because in the arena hacking away at a dummy was head councilor Percy Jackson. I was about to turn away when he called out to me.

"Couldn't sleep either, eh?" He asked still facing the dummy.

"No. I didn't believe anybody when they told about the dreams."

"Demigod dreams suck." He nodded smiling. "I understand, just don't make a habit out of it." I agreed.

After a few moments of silence he spoke, "Do you want to talk about it?"

At first I was hesitant, but then I decided that I could trust this guy, so I told him my dream. When I was done, he let out a breath.

"Wow," he seemed a bit stunned, "I guess this means you'll be getting a quest soon." he saw me tense up. "Don't be afraid. I won't lie to you it sounds pretty bad. But the good news is that you probably won't have to worry about this for a week or so."

Even though he said that, I knew that there was no way I would be able to get it off my mind. I would need some serious distractions. Who was the lady? Why was that insane guy kidnapping her? Or even the most important question. Why was the vision sent to me? Why did she want _me_ to save her? The stress and pressure of knowing that I was going to have to save her from the same guy that killed my Uncle Greg was starting to give me a headache.

"Do you want a private sword fighting lesson?" I had almost forgotten he was there.

"Are you any good?" He scoffed at my question

"Am I any good." he mumbled. "Get up. I'm going to show you a couple moves before you go on your quest." I decided to go for it. I switched _Wrath_ to sword form and stood up. He pulled a ball point pen out of his pocket and uncapped it. It turned into a 3 foot long celestial bronze sword.

"Whoa," I said in amazement, "does it have a name?" I asked.

"Riptide." He responded. "This sword has seen a lot of battles,"

then he added quietly, "and a lot of death. Anyway, the first thing I'm going to show you is a basic disarming maneuver." I was excited to say the least, but just as he was about to explain the technique I got that oh so familiar red hazy headache. I saw how the technique played out and it kind of felt like when you stay in a pool too long and your extremities start to get all wrinkly because of your body absorbing the water, only it happened inside my head. Without any water. When the sensation was gone, I noticed how I felt slightly drained, and Percy had his hand on my shoulder asking if I was okay.

"I'm fine," I told him.

"Okay. Well, did you get any of what I said?"he asked slightly worried.

"I-I think so." I stammered.

"Good. Well then lets give it a shot, shall we?" We were both surprised when I executed the move perfectly. "How did you... you know what never mind. With the world we live in, I'm not surprised that you have some sort of crazy unexplainable power that I've never seen a child of Ares have. Alright next I'm going to show you a proper feint." Almost instantly the vision came, and just like last time I sort of absorbed the information or what was happening with the same results. Me doing the move perfectly without so much as a blink, but I could tell that it was slowly draining me.

"Well this is by far the most peculiar training session I have ever had the pleasure of having. Trust me when I say that that means something." He tacked on when he saw my incredulous look, which left me wondering what this guy has seen in his day.

"Okay now I'm going to show you some combo moves to practice." But he didn't move, and the vision didn't come.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Well what?" I countered.

"Aren't you going to do the whole vision learning thing?"

"I can't really control it." I admitted. He thought for a minute and sat down. I sat down with him.

"Hmmm. I've got it!" he exclaimed. "You see how any kind of combat is going to play out, right?" I nodded. "Well maybe you can only see it if it's going to happen. Does that make sense?"

"Not really." I replied

"Look at this way," he explained, " If you're about to get into a fight, you'll see it right? Well if you _think _you're about to fight you won't see it because there's no intention of a fight." I was starting to see what he was talking about.

"So when you said you were going to show me some combo moves just now..."

"I had no actual intention of showing you the moves. I just assumed you'd automatically get the vision, but apparently that wasn't the case." he finished. Then he stood up and pulled me up too. "Okay, now I'm going to show you some combo moves to practice." This time the vision came and I saw the combos and was noticeably weaker when it had gone. And just like before, I could duplicate everything I had seen perfectly. This went on for another thirty minutes before Percy decided he'd "taught" me enough for one night, but before I left he had one more thing he wanted to try.

" Would you be up for a friendly sparring match before bed?" he asked.

I thought about it for a second, "sure."

" Okay... Begin!" then the vision came and I saw him sweeping at my legs. Then I felt my legs get kicked out from under me. When my eyesight returned there was a sword at my throat, and Percy offered me a hand.

"Thanks Councilor Jackson. Why didn't you wait for my vision to finish?"

"First call me Percy. Councilor Jackson makes me feel old. Second, if I had waited for your vision to finish I probably would've lost. So, I attacked while you were still out and also the enemy won't wait for your vision to finish either. It seems we've found a weak point in your powers. You need to train yourself to react without thinking. Once you'll be almost unstoppable. Come on I'll take you back to you cabin." We walked in silence for a little bit before I decided to break the silence.

"So who gave you the sword?" I asked.

"Initially it was a gift from my dad, but Chiron was the one who gave it to me."

"Who's your dad?" I asked hesitantly.

"Poseidon, god of the sea." he replied. Whoa this guy was a child of the big three. Then his eyes lit up, "You want to see something cool?" he asked.

"Yeah." he took out his pen/sword and chucked it as far as he could. I stood there opened mouthed his audacity to just throw away an awesome sword like that. But then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen. The. Exact. Same. Pen.

" Whoa," I exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

"It has an enchantment on it that makes it come back to my pocket in pen form whenever it gets separated from me."

"How far does it have to be?"

"Usually no more than a few feet. If you want yours to do that too, just talk to the senior councilor for the Hecate cabin and I'm sure she'd be willing to whip something up. Also," he pulled out a slip of paper and scribbled some stuff on it, and handed it to me, "take this down to the forge tomorrow and tell them it's a personal favor. Back in my day there weren't a lot of these but these days all you need are a couple of drachmas or a few dollars."

"So," It felt kind of weird asking this next question, "What was your first quest like?" He chuckled.

"That is another story for another sleepless night." I was a little disappointed but I understood. It was past curfew. "See you around Jack..."

"Myrmidon. And thanks for the training and what not."

"No problem." I heard him mumble as he walked off. "Myrmidon. Where have I heard that name before? Better ask Annabeth."

I stepped back into the cabin that night feeling a whole lot better than before. Maybe my first quest wouldn't be all that bad. As my head hit the pillow for the second time, I made a mental note to ask somebody about this Percy guy.


	5. I Have a Sweet Talk with Death

I Have a Sweet Talk

With Death

The next few days were spent in a fairly mediocre fashion as I got adjusted to the camp's customs and traditions. You know, rock wall climbing, with lava. Sword fighting. I destroyed everybody that I dueled with except for Percy and Jason, so I usually sparred with them. Pegasus riding lessons that I was getting pretty good at, and canoeing which I completely had no sort of aptitude for whatsoever.

It was Friday morning. Capture the flag was this evening and I was rummaging around in my old jeans looking for my uncle's ring, when I found a slip of paper with some writing on it. Then with a palm to the forehead, remembered I was supposed to go down to the forge for Percy. I grabbed the ring, which was on the dresser, and rushed over to the forges. When I got there, I saw about a dozen Hephaestus kids hard at work on weapons, shields, gadgets and such. I showed the paper to a guy filing a report and he told me to go see the senior Hephaestus camper in the back. I was utterly flabbergasted at what I saw.

There was this gorgeous girl hammering away at the molten pieces of scrap metal that was probably an ax. She had dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes, and was probably about half a foot shorter than me. When she was finished hammering she absentmindedly took off one of her gloves and was reaching for the ax blade

"Uh, you really don't want to do that." But she didn't hear me because she grabbed it any way and promptly let out a string of curses in Spanish so fast that I'm pretty sure that even if I knew Spanish I wouldn't be able to follow what she was saying. She finally looked up when I coughed to get her attention.

"What can I do for you?" she asked still irritated.

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out a very..., "What's a daughter of Aphrodite doing working in a forge?" stupid question. There was an instant of silence before her fist swung. Lucky for me, I caught it and somehow spun her around, pinned up against the wall. I let her go instantly. She turned around and flexed her shoulder.

"Jack, or Jason?" she asked. Great, it seemed that my reputation has preceded me.

"Jack," I answered. All of a sudden, she slapped me across my right cheek. Hard. I actually felt my eyes start to water, but I held in the tears. "Wow, you put some force behind that one."

"Don't _ever_ touch me." was all she said. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Percy sent me." I said while handing her the note. She looked up and cocked and eyebrow, as if asking what was so special about me. But I had no idea.

"Search me." I said. She nodded and walked away from her work station. Five minutes later she came back holding two watches.

"Analog, or digital?" I picked digital. "If you want it engraved or anything, tell Percy that that's going to cost extra. Understand?" I nodded. "Good, now get out of my forge." she dismissed, but I couldn't leave without knowing her name.

"What's your name?" I asked nervously.

"Beat my team in Capture the Flag and I'll think about it." Then I left. As I walked away, two things crossed my mind. One, I had a mission that I planned to accomplish. Two, I think I just found my first crush.

I blew off the rest of the activities and spent the rest of the day training, trying to get better. I asked a few Apollo campers to rapidly fire arrows at me, and I blocked, dodged, and slashed arrows out of mid air. A few people were confused at my intense training, but complied with my requests. My day got even better when I sparred with Jason a second time. Nobody tried anything but people did watch. At first, as I waited for him to find a weapon, I thought it was going to end in another draw but then I remembered my training session with Percy and I thought that if Jason had the same abilities I did then he must have the same weaknesses. So when the vision inevitably came, I completely ignored it. Instead the second the vision hit I willed my feet forward as I sprinted in his general direction. I jumped at him when I remembered that the vision was only going to last a few precious seconds. He never saw the flying tackle coming. By the time he realized what had happened, I had knocked away his sword and had _Wrath _at his throat.

I showered and got ready for dinner. My mind was totally fixated on the mission. Learn her name, and possibly get her to talk to without getting her angry or because of business. I kept thinking of all the possible cool things I could say to her once I won capture the flag. I was so infatuated with her that I didn't notice Red sit down next to me.

"So, I hear you pissed of the senior Hephaestus camper today." he said grinning.

"Yeah, that did not go the way I wanted it to. I didn't even mean to say it. It just sort of... slipped out. Wait a second, how did you find out about this?"

"Nothing happens at this camp without me knowing about it. Now tell me what happened." I told him and he burst out laughing. "Yeah, that sounds like Laurie alright. Smack first ask questions never."

"What's her name?"

"Lauren Nicole MacHale, but everyone here calls her Laurie."

"Well, that saves me a lot of trouble." I grinned mischievously. I threw all my previous plans out the window, because now I only needed one to get her interested in me, and I plan on putting it into action tonight.

I was on the red team. The cabins on the red alliance were Ares, Hermes, Apollo, Nemesis, Bia, Aeolus, Demeter, Morpheus, Hades, Hestia, Aphrodite and on the Blue team was Poseidon, Hephaestus, Athena, Eros, Persephone, Hypnos, Hecate, Nike, Dionysus, Iris, and Janus.

I got strapped up in my armor and put on my helmet with the red plume. I felt ready for battle, and I felt ready to get inside the head of Lauren. Once the teams were in position, Red walked over to me. Since Ares was leading the attack Red was in charge of the entire operation.

"Look, I did what you asked, but just make sure no one gets past you, okay?" I nodded and tapped my forehead.

"You can't fight fate, Red. Let's do this." The second the conch horn sounded I got the worst headache of my life.

I saw it all. Campers getting sniped from the trees, while my team pressed forward with the attack. It was going to turn into an all out battle in the middle of the forest with a couple of hell hounds thrown in for good measure. Then I saw the way that Lauren initially wanted to go and knew that she knew about my abilities, which meant that she would be coming from a completely different direction. The only question was where. So I let out a slow breath and concentrated on putting my self in her shoes. I'm about to face an Ares kid with nearly unparalleled fighting ability while simultaneously trying to come up with a plan to get the flag. What would I do? I would set up a string of traps and lure out the enemy then get the flag while the defensive barrier was still incapacitated. The second I realized this, I started barking orders, because Red had left me in charge of defense.

" Defensive detail, hold fast! Do not go any where without my say so understand?" I got a bunch of mixed 'yes sirs', and one kid held up his hand.

"But sir, what if one of ours is injured and needs our help?" I expected this question.

"Then he or she will just have to hold on until the flag is captured. We cannot afford to be tricked, Understand?" This time there was a loud chorus of 'yes sir'. "Good. Now set up a defensive perimeter around the flag and report back to me when its done." Just before I left I got a head count of all the people there. 16. Ten minutes later, a Nemesis camper told me he had a count of 17. My plan was working.

" Okay, remember what I told you, leave the rear side of the perimeter open. I just want you guys to cover the front, left, and right flanks, but don't tell anyone what you're doing." He nodded and left, and I went straight to the back to welcome the spy.

At first I thought she wouldn't show, but then I realized that she would probably wait until her traps had been sprung. I called out the signal, 2 minutes later Adam, the Nemesis camper, showed up.

"Send 4 of your best men to spring the traps." He silently agreed and left again. No less than ten minutes later, Lauren came strutting through the bushes, sure that her plan was working.

"You seem confident." I called out, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"How did you know that I would be here?" she was stalling.

"One, that's not really important right now. Two, I'm not as stupid as you initially made me out to be." She frowned and pulled out what looked to be a grenade and a 3 foot sword that was skinnier than, but that I'm willing to bet was much stronger than at first glance. Then, I charged then changed direction and changed direction again when she threw the Greek fire grenade. Its explosion didn't phase me. Before she knew what was happening, I was inches from her face. I grinned and slowly backed away.

"what are you doing? Fight!" She lunged, but I parried her strike and didn't retaliate, which only seemed to infuriate her. I felt myself grinning stupidly at how well this was going. That's when she became merciless. If weren't a good swordsman already I'm pretty sure this fight would've been over a while ago, but I pressed on none the less, remaining careful not to attack, only defend. With each blow I could tell she was becoming even more frustrated. I checked my watch and realized what time it was. I let her through my defenses so fast that she ended up falling on top of me. I smiled.

"I guess you win." I said dropping my sword.

She grinned evilly, "And I guess you'll have to try a bit harder on learning my name."

"Maybe you're right...Lauren." Her face changed instantly from confident to shock in half a second. All of a sudden the conch horn sounded and Red came charging through the bushes carrying a Blue flag, a huge smile spread across his face.

"I'll, uh, leave you two alone." he left with a wink.

"Or maybe not." She got to her feet and stormed off.

I lay there for a few minutes thinking about how well things went, before heading to the amphitheater for the sing-along. When I got there, I immediately noticed Lauren shooting death glares at me. I simply smiled sweetly at her, and continued to my seat. As usual, the Apollo campers led. But I decided to that I had had enough excitement for one night and decided to turn in early. But when I got to my cabin. Lauren was waiting with an angry glare and a sword. This was not part of the plan. Time to make adjustment.

"What do you call that CRAP that you pulled tonight."

"I call it a result of a good team and careful planning. Why, what do you call it?" I answered innocently.

"YOU KNEW MY NAME!" She shouted.

"Okay first of all there's no need to shout. And second, you have a beautiful name why be ashamed of it."

"That's not the point. Who told you my name? It was Red wasn't it?" I nodded. " GODS! I am going to castrate him."

"Whoa, hey. Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Not as _extreme as _what I'm going to do to you. What is your problem anyway?" Again, I could not stop the words that tumbled out of my mouth.

"I kind of... l-like you. I think you're gorgeous." We locked eye contact and suddenly the very fabric of time felt like it was full of tension. The expression on her face was one of bewilderment. I felt my self being drawn toward her. The next thing I knew, our lips were mushed together in momentary passion. We broke apart for air, and my head was still spinning. She jumped back and ran away, leaving me to try and process what just happened. But I felt a sudden chill up my spine and I turned around to see a man dressed in an all black suit with black eyes, no irises. He had jet black hair and... wings. I instantly knew that he was a god.

"Can I help you, Lord?"

"Jack Myrmidon, correct?" I nodded numbly. "I am Thanatos, god of death. We need to talk.

I was shocked beyond belief. I was literally face to face with death, and apparently on speaking terms. I reached for _Wrath,_ ready to defend myself.

"That will not be necessary young hero." his voice was deep, old and raspy

"I am simply here to warn you. Do not trust nor give in to my families demands. They are cruel and will spare no one. You must do what is right for the world, and just for your self."

"What are you talking about? Does this have anything to do with the dream that I had?"

"Talk to Chiron. He will guide you. In the meantime, good luck young hero." I heard a flap of wings and he was gone. What was that all about? I ran all the way to the big house to explain to Chiron what just happened. The color drained from his face when I told him the name of the guy I was talking to.

"This bit of information requires a bit more clarification. Go upstairs to the room on the right and talk to Rachel." I did what he said.

I opened the door and saw a pretty red headed lady sitting at a computer typing.

"Hey kid, do you know a good synonym for happy?"

"Uhh, Joyful?" She mulled it over before snapping her fingers.

"I love it. Now what can I do for you?"

"Um, Chiron sent me to talk to you, and I'm not sure why."

"Well for one, I'm the Oracle of Camp Half-Blood, so maybe you're about to get a quest. What's your name?"

" Jack Myrmidon, mam." Almost instantly her eyes glowed a sea green.

_You shall see the dead land_

_and will face near destruction at the death king's hand_

_you must rescue the memories with revenge and first love_

_and uncover the truth of the god killer_

_and return to the beginning of your ancestry_

_child of the ancient river_

Rachel blinked and smiled, "I hope that helped, although pretty sure that you're now more confused than ever." I walked down stairs thinking that confused wasn't even the word. I got back to Chiron only to find Lauren waiting for me with a worried look on her face.

She started talking before I even reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Jack, I'm so sorry about everything I said. I was just really confused about some of the things I was feeling and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings in anyway. I'm sorry." I smiled but it was more of a apologetic one rather than a happy one.

"Everything's going to be fine." I told her. But it felt like I was trying to convince my self. I told him the prophecy.

"Well this is a tricky one. It's obvious that a child of Nemesis must go with you, but the first love... I have absolutely no clue who that might be." maybe it was just my imagination but I detected some sarcasm in that statement.

"Also, it is impossible to kill a god, so how are you supposed to find something or someone that can do that?"

" But what about the child of the ancient river part. It was clearly meant for me, but I wasn't born in a river."

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Do you know who you want to go with you."

"Yeah, I guess I'll take Adam. We worked really well together during capture the flag. I'll see if any Aphrodite campers will want to go."

"NO!" Lauren shouted. "I'll, uh, I'll go. You need someone with experience. I'll go pack my things and meet you at half-Blood hill tomorrow morning." She turned and left in a hurry. Chiron looked at me sympathetically.

"Boy, girls are complicated."

"Indeed." was all he said. He seemed to be studying my reaction to all of this.

"Well, I guess I've got a quest to get ready for." I left thinking about how crazy things would be tomorrow. I had no idea what was waiting for me. Or rather who.


	6. We Get Ambushed by Smeagol and Friends

We Get Ambushed By

Smeagol and Friends

The next day, I woke up from a dreamless sleep, which surprised me because I usually had nightmares about the dream I had earlier that week. Either Morpheus was screwing with me or demigod dreams really are dreadful. I packed some armor, three days supply of clothes, some ambrosia and nectar, and about 300 dollars in cash that Chiron gave me along with several drachma. In 20 minutes, I was waiting on top of half-Blood hill with Adam Jones. We were arguing about whether or not the Carolina Panthers had any sort of shot at getting any where near the playoffs this year, when Lauren walked up the hill in khaki cargo shorts and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I didn't know I was staring until Adam tapped me on the shoulder.

"Dude, you are not going to do that to me the entire time on this quest." He said.

"Do what?" I asked innocently.

"Treat me like a third wheel. It's happened to me before and it totally sucks." then his voice became a whisper. "Look I know you like her and all but when I was four years old my mother told me something in a dream that I'll never forget."

"What was it?"

"She said, 'Adam whatever you do, remember that the mission always comes first' and I've stuck to that philosophy ever since. Whether it be saving the world or simply getting up in time for breakfast. So now I'm telling you. The mission always comes first, understand?"

I let out a sigh, "Yeah, I got it."

"Good. I'll let you two have your moment before the quest starts but after we get going, I don't want your mind totally fixated on her," he cast a quick glance in her direction, "no matter how attractive she may be." and with that he got into the SUV that Argus the hundred eyed security guard had rented. Lauren walked up to me with a tired smile on her face and I knew that we had to get this out of the way now or it would eat away at me for the entire trip.

"So... last night was... interesting." I started.

She chuckled nervously, "Yeah, between the kiss and the god of death showing up, I'd say it was a pretty interesting evening. What do you think about the, um,... the kiss." she wouldn't stop looking at the ground, and neither would I.

"It was sort of, kind of, the best kiss I've ever had." Her head shot up to meet my eyes, and she smiled a little bit.

"Really?" I nodded

"Then again it was also the first kiss I've ever had, so I'll let you know how the others turn out." I grinned, and she punched me in the arm.

"Shut up." was all she could say

"But look, since we're going on a quest together, I think we should lay down some ground rules. Okay?" she agreed. "Okay, first rule : we can't make Adam in there feel like a third wheel. Second rule, The mission comes first. No matter what we can not forget what we're supposed to do. Understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. How do you feel about me?" whoa didn't see that coming.

"Uh, no offense or anything but I really can't put it into words right now because I'm not really sure how I feel my self. Come on let's not keep Argus waiting."

We got into the car without another word, but I didn't want it to feel awkward all the way to the airport so I started up a conversation with Adam.

"So, how did you end up at camp?" I asked, and he launched into his tale without much encouragement. Apparently, he had reached the age of 13 before anything strange started happening. One day he was getting a drink of water from the water fountain and he heard a lady calling out for help in the weirdest way. Weird because she sort of had a lisp that made all the words with the letter 'S' in them get drawn out longer than what they were supposed to. When he went to investigate, he saw a snake lady that instead of having regular human legs had two long snake tails for legs. She had a spear in her hand and she lunged at him and he some how managed to pull the spear from her grasp as she flew over him while falling to the ground. When she attacked again, he impaled her with her own spear. When he got back to the classroom, a friend of his who was actually a satyr told him that he'd walk him home and explain everything. 3 days later he was at camp being claimed as the son of Nemesis.

We got to the airport with time to spare. Although, we still had to go through all of the usual bull that comes with traveling by airplane. Such as, long lines at the security check, baggage claim and all that. Oh and my personal favorite, security pat downs, Yay! Who doesn't love having their personal space violated by a bunch of minimum wage paid "officers" that touch in all the wrong places. Sorry, I'm venting a bit. So by the time our plane was ready to leave we had seconds to board or we were going to miss it. But we didn't.

It was three to a seat on the plane as we flew to Los Angeles.

Adam decided to take charge, probably a seniority thing, "Okay, so what do we know?"

"Well, we have to go to the underworld and oh yeah, be destroyed by freaking Hades Lord of the Dead." Lauren shushed me.

"We are on a FREAKING plane full of mortals. Will you please keep it down?" She scolded.

"It's not like they care. They're mortals. They get to pretend that none of this stuff exists. So forgive me if I want a way to let out stress and frustration."

she scoffed at me. "Whatever, just don't be such a girl about it." that really ticked me off.

"Oh you mean as girly as the way that you fought last night?"

"Look here, pendejo, last was a fluke if it came down to a one on one fight with no weapons, I would _destroy_ you. Understand?"

"I'm shaking in my... wait I'm not shaking at all."

"You'll be doing a lot more than shaking, when I'm done with you."

"Oh, bring it on Ms. Burned Hand. How 'bout you pick up another piece of molten metal, then come and tell me if you could take me in a fight." Finally Adam had had enough amusement and decided to step in.

"Well, if two are done with your first lover's quarrel, can we continue on with saving the world?" we got silent. "Thank you."

"What makes you think that the world needs to be saved?"

"Well for one this isn't a normal quest. Most of the quests that have been given out didn't even have prophecies. They were more like the labors that Hercules did. Take the one that brother went on for instance."

"Yeah, what about it? Red just told me it wasn't really a hard one."

"That's because it wasn't. What do you know about the flesh eating horses?"

"Uh, they were horses and they ate people?"

"Yeah... that's the idiot's guide to Greek mythology version, but any way a couple of them got loose and they sent a team from camp to go fix it. And your brother was on that team. So you see? Only save the world type deals get prophecies. Also the last prophecy was given like a decade ago, and that was for the giant war."

"Okay fine, say we do have to save the world, how does saving memories save the world? What memories do we have to save?"

"That's a question that we'll have to get answered in the underworld. Now if you'll excuse me, I need my beauty sleep. Try not to destroy the plane while I'm sleeping. Just think of guy who might have to clean that up if you do."

After about 20 minutes of awkward silence and snoring, I decided to break the silence and apologize.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. But really it was a self defense mechanism." she continued to look out the window. "but you have to admit that your swordsmanship has a certain... feminine quality to it." she smirked. "Honestly you might as well fight with flowers, because that's impression I got from you swinging your sword around like it's a bloody bouquet." she burst out laughing. Finally, she spoke up.

"What about you mister to cool to hit a lady. Don't think I didn't notice that whole Zorro macho thing where you basically toy with the incredibly beautiful maiden until she just falls in your arms." did she just giggle?

"Well it seemed to work well enough last night. Or did you forget that little scene all too soon, already."

"Shut up Jack. Just keep your head on the mission."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're not my mother." We both couldn't stop laughing for a good few minutes. "No, seriously though. I'm sorry about what I said."

"Yeah, I know. We're bound to butt heads, our fathers being who they are and all." what was that supposed to mean?

"What do you mean?"

"Really? You seriously need to pay more attention during your ancient Greek lessons. My father is Hephaestus, and his wife is Aphrodite. Do you remember which god that Aphrodite loves to have an affair with every chance she gets?" Oh.

"Oh right. But that doesn't mean that they hate each other."

"Uh, yes it does. If some overly confident, arrogant jerk kept stealing your woman, what would you do?"

"I'd kill him." thinking about the first guy that would try to take Lauren away from me.

"Okay, so now you can see it from my father's point of view. No offense Jack but your dad's a gigalow." the sky outside rumbled a bit. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever."

"No he isn't. If anybody's the gigalow, it's Zeus. Do you have any idea how women he's been with. The gods better be lucky there's no such thing as godly STDs." That's when the pilot came on the intercom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Due to very _insolent_ circumstances we'll have to make to make an emergency landing at the local airport in Missouri. Thank you for flying Aeolus Airlines." oops. Busted.

"Wake Adam up, we need to get off the plane. NOW." Lauren shook Adam awake as I got all of our stuff. We got off the plane and proceeded to find an exit in Missouri National Airport. When got to the entrance we hailed a cab and tried to figure out a plan as to where we were supposed to go next.

"Why'd we have to get off the plane. It was a straight shot to Los Angeles." Adam complained.

"Well while you were sleeping," Lauren whispered, "Jack decided to insinuate that Zeus had picked up some sort of mythological STD from all the women he's been with. The next thing we knew we were getting off the plane."

Adam groaned, "Couldn't you guys have waited until after the quest to insult the king of the gods? Now we're probably going to have to take a bus and I really hate bus rides."

"You guys said you looking for a bus?" the cab driver piped up.

"Yeah but it has to be a cross country bus." I said.

"Oh. Well there's one of those east of where we are right now. The only catch is that you'll probably have to hike about a mile through the forest."

We decided to get out. "Thanks, how much do we owe you."

"Just give me a fifty." that was odd, surely we had come a lot farther than a fifty buck ride. But I paid him and got out of the car.

"Alright troops let's get moving." I said mock enthusiastically.

We walked for about 20 minutes before we heard a rustle in the trees. Usually normal people would just forget about the sound and keep moving, but we're demigods so we get an extra big helping of paranoia with our ADHD. We instantly stopped. That's when a tiny green creature about 2 feet high hobbled through a thickness of trees. It was extremely skinny and was wearing what looked like a potato sack cloth.

"Form a tight circle with our things in the center." I barked.

Lauren yelped in pain, "Ow, Jack did you just pull my hair?"

"No! Why would I do that when we're in the middle of an ambush."

Adam suddenly got a bright look on his face. "Wait a minute. I know what you are. You're the Kobaloi. You're goblins." The goblin who had walked out earlier spoke up.

"You show much respect, godling, by calling us by our name of origin." His voice was high pitched and raspy, kinda like that creature from Lord of the Rings

"May I ask what you are doing in our forest?"

I decided to go for the diplomatic approach rather than just fighting my way out.

"We're on a quest and we just want to get to the bus at the end of the trail. I'm asking on behalf of all of us that you let us pass safely and peacefully." Both Adam and Lauren were looking at me in bewilderment.

"You ask much." the leader said. "trespassing is not something that my kind take lightly. We require a token to appease your shortcomings. Such as... the ring you wear on your finger." I looked down and saw that I was still wearing my uncle's emerald class ring. There was no way I was giving this stupid thing my uncle's ring.

After a few moments of silence, Lauren nudged me impatiently. "Jack what are you doing," she whispered, "give him the ring."

"No." I answered quietly. Then I said it louder. "No, the ring stays with me. Anything else but the ring."

"I'm sorry but we want nothing but that... that beautiful... shiny..." he trailed off and his eyes took on a malicious glint. He snarled and leaped at me. I pressed the button on my watch/shield and as soon as it expanded I smacked him with it.

"Lauren, Adam, get our stuff to the bus. I'll hold them off." Adam didn't need to be told twice, but Lauren lingered a bit. "GO!" I yelled when suddenly a swarm of goblins started coming out of the trees and holes in the ground.

"Oh. Not good." I began smacking them away with my shield and that's when I felt a sudden sharp pain on my left calf. I looked down and was mortified to see a goblin gnawing on my leg. Kicked him away and decided that it was time to leave. Just then I got a brilliant idea. I pulled out my sword and let the goblins see it gleam in the sunlight and chucked it as far as I could before taking off in the direction of the bus, only going as fast as my leg would allow me. When I finally hobbled onto the bus, Adam and Lauren let out a sigh of relief as I sat down in the empty seat across the isle from them. Adam gave me some ambrosia and I felt a warm sensation in my stomach before feeling better.

" Well... I really didn't see that one coming." we all let out a relieved chuckle.


End file.
